Water production on remote wells for livestock and other applications has long been problematic. Water production of remote wells for the livestock industry typically has several problems such as low production rates of solar pumping systems on deep wells, failure rates and associated maintenance costs, and additional challenged with windmill water production systems including access and waste. Many within the industry have resorted to using generators which can require repeated trips to a remote well site to fuel and start a generator to pump enough water to satisfy livestock water consumption needs.
Solar power can be an effective answer, but presents its own challenges. With solar powered water pumping systems, flow rates on deep water wells are typically very low when compared to the flow rates of a standard deep well pump supported by AC electrical power. Solar energy production is dependent on exposure to sunlight. Water production capabilities will be decreased or can cease in times of decreased or no sunlight. In some cases, the water production rate of a solar water production system is the primary limiting factor restricting a livestock property to realize its full potential. Additionally, as long as there is sunlight the pump will continue to operate after the distant storage tank is full. The water that is pumped will overflow from the tank onto the ground. This condition will continue as long as there is sunshine unless an operator travels to the pump location and turns the pump off. In arid areas of the world a good deal of the water that is spilled onto the ground is absorbed into the atmosphere and lost. The remaining water seeps back into the ground, but can take several years to reach static ground water levels and charge the ground water supply.
Windmill water production is also a common solution to water production issues on remote water well sites. Typically, windmills are very wasteful when producing water. Unless turned off by an operator, windmills pump as long as wind is present. Once the storage vessel is full, excess water generally spills out onto the ground wasting the water and the operating efforts of the windmill Windmills also tend to be expensive and difficult to maintain, often involving risky and hazardous conditions to the technician performing maintenance.
The maintenance of windmill water production systems also can be very expensive and dangerous to the operator and technicians. Typical frequent maintenance tasks are replacement of the seals at the bottom of the well piping requiring the expense of several man hours and the use of a crane type vehicle. Servicing the gear box assembly at the top of the windmill pumping system tower requires a technician to climb high up to the top of the windmill tower or be raised to the area by some lifting device so that lubrication, oil change maintenance and repairs to that portion can be performed. This exposes a technician to the hazards of working in conditions at heights with tools, lubricants, and being subject to wind gusts that can create an extremely dangerous environment.
The point of use generator, though often the least expensive up front, can overall be a very expensive approach to water production. A generator typically requires an operator making a trip to the site with a container of fuel, fueling the generator, and then starting it along with the deep well pump in the well. Typically, the operator does not wait the several hours that it takes the generator to consume the fuel, but leaves the site understanding that when the generator has consumed all of the fuel, it will stop running Allowing the generator to run out of fuel under an electrical load in this manner is extremely hazardous to both the generator and the deep well pump, often shortening the operating life of each piece. This practice further can lead to expensive repairs or early replacements of either the generator or the well pump.
The livestock industry in particular has long been challenged by a need for and a lack of efficient solutions to water distribution over elevations on grazing lands, especially in arid and dry regions around the world. Where water can be distributed across grazing lands to targeted locations near feeding areas, the water will be utilized more efficiently by the livestock. Livestock that must travel long distances to watering locations such as troughs naturally will collect in greater herds to make the trip from the feeding location to the watering location. Large herds of livestock arriving to drink at the same time result in a high demand on the water in the troughs and storage tanks.
Pipe lines are often installed to deliver water across a landscape to supply water to areas supporting livestock. Commonly the source of water, usually a well, storage pond or tank, is located at a lower elevation than the location where the water is needed. When this is the case a water delivery technology such as a pump is required to pump the water to the higher elevations where one or more storage tanks and/or troughs are located. In an off-grid setting, one solution is using a solar powered pump to pump water by solar energy to higher elevation distant storage tanks. The solar powered pump will pump water, from the well, pond or a local storage tank to the distant storage tank filling the storage vessel for livestock use.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,744,334 and 1,632,188 and 6,699,019 describe methods and apparatus for the pumping and transfer of ground water to the surface for livestock consumption needs. The invention disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,744,334 generally suffers from a limited water production capability as compared to the invention of the well pumping and control systems water production capabilities. The windmill water pumping inventions disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,632,188 and 6,699,019 suffer in areas of accessibility for maintenance operational dependability cost of repairs and water conservation when compared to the well pumping and control system of the present invention.
While a few devices are available to control pump operation based on the water level in a local storage tank where the well or pump are in close proximity to such storage tank, there is a need for water level control devices to control pump operation based on water levels in distant storage tanks often several miles from the pump location. See, for example, the system detailed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,457,798.